Abia speaker urges NMA to tackle quackery in medical profession

Chinedum Orji, the Speaker of Abia House of Assembly, has charged the leadership of the Nigerian Medical Association in the state to take steps to rid the profession of quacks.
Orji gave the charge on Friday in Umuahia during the formal opening of the 2019 Annual Gerenal Meeting and Scientific Conference of the association.
The Speaker, who was represented by Jerry Uzosike, member representing Umuahia south constituency, decried the alarming rate of quackery in the profession.
He regretted that the development was crippling the medical professional and posed serious danger to society.
He said: “We are at the seventh Assembly are worried about this issue of quackery in the medical profession.
“People walk into the villages and open hospitals and begin to practice.
“They claim to be doctors and begin to open people’s tummies and engage in other unwholesome practices.”
The speaker urged NMA to go into the villages and begin to flush out the quacks dragging the image of the profession in the mud.
He further charged the association to embark on the training and re-training of its members, saying that this was the only way to keep them abreast with modern medical practice.
Orji said that the state assembly would give its full legislative backing to any measures geared toward addressing serious health issues in the state, including quakery.
Earlier in her address, Dr Carol Iwuoha, the state Chairperson of the association, commended Governor Okezie Ikpeazu for his laudable health initiatives.
According to Iwuoha, Abia is one of the few states that have rolled out the basic healthcare provision scheme.
She also lauded the house for passing the Abia State Health Insurance Law.
She said: “What remains is the implementation of the content and trust building in the project by healthcare providers.”
She underscored the need to engage doctors at the primary health care level in order to build patients’ confidence and trust in the medical profession.
She also called for a legislation for the establishment of the Office of Medical Officers of Health in each local government council of the state.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of this year’s conference was “State Health Legislation: role in effective healthcare delivery.”
Different speakers at the event charged policy makers in the health sector to evolve measures to improve healthcare service delivery in the state.